I was exposed to my culture when I was born and I gladly embraced it with my tiny little baby arms. As I grew up, I dawned to hear more and more and even more, but sometimes even a little too much about my heritage and background from where I came from and how my parents lived in Mexico. What I didn't know however was how they came into America, if they came safe and sound, or if it was extreme or even if it was complicated. Since both my father and I had nothing to do, I came up to my dad and asked him about what his dream was, his experience pursuing his desire, and at the end, Did it even matter?

My father outset to portray a picture of his American Dream at the Age of 15. At a young age like his, you get very frightened of all the possibilities of traveling to a different country with only the knowledge of getting a better life only told by rumors, but he was “Determined to never lose sight of his Dream.” He needed Guidance to go through his plan, but the best advice that absolutely drove him to go after the dream was from his loving mother when she told him to “Hunt whatever your heart and mind are set for”, which were the driving force for his voyage. Once he left the poverty and dirt of his home, He knew that he was “determined and wasn't going to even look back for a second”. This was the start of the “American Dream” process and his challenging life.

Imagine just a day in the wildlife of Mexico, which has no life or colonized cities for miles long, but you're close to create a new life for the favor of yourself. The only thing that will stop you, was your nationality, your knowledge, your lack of English, but most importantly, the feelings you have for your parents, that are miles and miles away. My Dad wasn't happy at all once he stepped foot in America because he recalls that he was diagnosed of having “depression to Homesickness”. He still tried to survive in the new world he came too. He described the feeling of not having a job due to “His lack of English”. He described his situation back then by using something that I can relate to by saying if I was in Footlocker with Kevin Durant, drawing his signature on his shoes known as the Kevin 'Durant 7's (Since I idolize him) but not being able to talk to him or anything because I couldn't communicate with him or anyone for that matter. Just from that, I knew that his new beginning was a major challenge.

A normal American realizes and knows their own American Dream at the age of around 21. A Mexican like my dad who came into the country at the age of 17 will take him A LOT more years than anyone can predict. My father had already been in the country for a week and he hasn't even been “close to the American Dream as he pictured it in his head”. Due to his lack of proper English and not having an American Birth Certificate, he was “Shot down of having his dream job as a Mailman” since they “work everyday of the year”.

Even though his dream was shot down, his head and heart was still soaring high. After a couple of more years here in America , he got that brush and painted a brand new American Dream of “Being a normal person, earning money no matter how much, and having a loving family”. For now, he has almost everything that he wanted, but “Currently, we are closer to that American Dream and I’m not giving up chasing it!” It is incredible to realize how much my Father has done to make a normal life as if he lived in America all his life when it only has been 30 years since he has been to the desert, cobblestone broken, sauna called Mexico. Even though he lived a long life, he isn't finished chasing that Luxurious American Dream!